First lines meme
The last twenty-one first lines I wrote in fanfic. If you want to ask me about any of these, I'll talk about how I came up with it/why I wrote it that way, if I remember.
1. In the autumn after Kjartan had arrived back in Iceland, Ósvífr, as was his custom, invited Óláfr and his family to a feast at Laugar.
2. “How’s your meal?” the waitress asks, leaning over Betty.
3. Jem had finally managed to settle himself at the edge of a crowd of other courtiers, in a chair on the verandah where he could see the fires and the celebrating people of the capital city on the palace lawns below, when he felt Marco’s strong hand clasping his shoulder.
4. “- and remember that Baron Wysirsk will be expecting to trip you up over the trade issue. He’s still hoping to expand into Beltrazo, but as it stands…”
5. “Oh dear,” Fraser said.
6. "Cats," John says helpfully, as he dumps the two bodies on a tabletop.
7. “Truth or dare, Chummy?”
8. Merlin notices the minute Arthur goes down, victim of a definitely illegal tackle by Leon and hilariously covered in mud, and stifles a laugh in the sleeve of his school sweatshirt.
9. After all that had happened last year, Fa Mulan, only child of Fa Zhou of Jinbai, had never expected to be standing here, on the gleaming command deck of the Imperial cityship, head bowed and neck again bared by a man’s topknot.
10. “Juliet, Juliet!”
11. Cody gets sick the first week they’re in LA.
12. “Bloody hell, Holli.”
13. Sinbad wakes up in bed next to Gunnar in a dark room.
14. What Esca wanted to do was go north again.
15. When Ray met Brad for the first time, it all went to shit.
16. Walking up the road to Ralph’s lodgings from the train station and coming upon the aching gap where a house should be, Laurie felt his heart torn in two, suddenly and carelessly, like last week’s newspaper.
17. “Afterwards. Alec told me. But I should have come, anyway. I should have had to come back." The words made Ralph sway on his feet, unsteady and flinching, and Laurie stepped forward, a hand reaching out towards Ralph. (Quoting two sentences because the first one is a direct quotation from canon.)
18. Susan doesn’t normally drink more than a little, just enough to make things warm and make her smile, but only a week ago she thought she was going to die, and things have been off-balance since then.
19. Things began to get dangerous on the third night of snowfall.
20. “Hey, look up,” Bucky says, from behind Steve, and Steve frowns.
21. The last thing Steve can remember before this moment, blinking gummy eyes open in the dark, is the shout of “Pirates!” echoing through the ship and a blow to his head.
I don't think we can learn anything from this! I quite like starting with dialogue, but not overwhelmingly so. I don't generally set up the scene first thing, but sometimes I do. Um. Anything else?
Also posted on Dreamwidth at http://surexit.dreamwidth.org/74975.html with
comments. Comment wherever you like.
1. In the autumn after Kjartan had arrived back in Iceland, Ósvífr, as was his custom, invited Óláfr and his family to a feast at Laugar.
2. “How’s your meal?” the waitress asks, leaning over Betty.
3. Jem had finally managed to settle himself at the edge of a crowd of other courtiers, in a chair on the verandah where he could see the fires and the celebrating people of the capital city on the palace lawns below, when he felt Marco’s strong hand clasping his shoulder.
4. “- and remember that Baron Wysirsk will be expecting to trip you up over the trade issue. He’s still hoping to expand into Beltrazo, but as it stands…”
5. “Oh dear,” Fraser said.
6. "Cats," John says helpfully, as he dumps the two bodies on a tabletop.
7. “Truth or dare, Chummy?”
8. Merlin notices the minute Arthur goes down, victim of a definitely illegal tackle by Leon and hilariously covered in mud, and stifles a laugh in the sleeve of his school sweatshirt.
9. After all that had happened last year, Fa Mulan, only child of Fa Zhou of Jinbai, had never expected to be standing here, on the gleaming command deck of the Imperial cityship, head bowed and neck again bared by a man’s topknot.
10. “Juliet, Juliet!”
11. Cody gets sick the first week they’re in LA.
12. “Bloody hell, Holli.”
13. Sinbad wakes up in bed next to Gunnar in a dark room.
14. What Esca wanted to do was go north again.
15. When Ray met Brad for the first time, it all went to shit.
16. Walking up the road to Ralph’s lodgings from the train station and coming upon the aching gap where a house should be, Laurie felt his heart torn in two, suddenly and carelessly, like last week’s newspaper.
17. “Afterwards. Alec told me. But I should have come, anyway. I should have had to come back." The words made Ralph sway on his feet, unsteady and flinching, and Laurie stepped forward, a hand reaching out towards Ralph. (Quoting two sentences because the first one is a direct quotation from canon.)
18. Susan doesn’t normally drink more than a little, just enough to make things warm and make her smile, but only a week ago she thought she was going to die, and things have been off-balance since then.
19. Things began to get dangerous on the third night of snowfall.
20. “Hey, look up,” Bucky says, from behind Steve, and Steve frowns.
21. The last thing Steve can remember before this moment, blinking gummy eyes open in the dark, is the shout of “Pirates!” echoing through the ship and a blow to his head.
I don't think we can learn anything from this! I quite like starting with dialogue, but not overwhelmingly so. I don't generally set up the scene first thing, but sometimes I do. Um. Anything else?
Also posted on Dreamwidth at http://surexit.dreamwidth.org/74975.html with
comments. Comment wherever you like.